Mile 231-240 Mission Creek to Mission Springs Trail Camp

Don't know whether it was yesterday's miles, my biorhythms being off kilter or what, but today was a slog. It was just all up hill to 8000 ft, nothing distracting to look at but my feet, plod, plod, plod, plod and my pack felt as heavy as a small fridge. Tracy thought it might be altitude affecting me. Those were probably the only words we exchanged the entire hike.

We arrived at the water source at mile 240 at around 2pm. It was nice to be making camp early for a change instead of our usual 6-7pm. Though I had imagined us resting in the tent with our feet up, it never seems to work out like that. Once we got the tent up I went down the 1/4 mile path to the spring-fed horse trough to filter 6 liters of water. Tracy, meanwhile, was scouring the forest for firewood. This is the first time we were at a place with a fire pit, so we wanted to make use of it.

We were hoping our trail mates "Seeds" and "Pins" would catch up and see the fire and camp with us for the night. It worked. So well that by the end of the night we had about 10 other PCT hikers huddled around the campfire as the mist and cold rolled in.

Almost forgot, saw our first Poodle Brush today. This fluffy innocent sounding plant with pretty purple flowers is many times worse than poison oak. It stinks and if you touch or graze against it you could end up in hospital. We both stuck to long pants and shirts and generally avoided all vegetation. Sorry no photos. Will post next time we see it.